April 04, 2003

News from the ex-hometown

I've not been to Miami in about two years, but I was born and raised there, so if you hear about an anti-Castro protest in the form of huge traffic jams consisting of Cuban-Americans in their late model Chevy Impalas beeping their horns in that city's streets let me tell you the reason why:

In a highly unusual move, the top U.S. diplomat in Havana on Wednesday night warned Cubans not to undertake any more hijackings, telling them in a message read on communist-run television that they would be prosecuted by U.S. authorities and lose the right to seek American residency.

The message by James Cason, chief of the U.S. Interests Section, demonstrated growing worries about the possibility that such hijackings could end in violence or spark a migration crisis.

PS: the reason that's on a Canadian news site is that Canadians love going to Cuba. Sorry, Canucks, but you do. Anyway, here's the Miami Herald's take on it. Incidentally, people in Miami used to put bumper stickers on their cars that said "I don't believe the Miami Herald." I forget what facet of the Ongoing Crisis caused that -- probably some controversy concerning the Mariel boat lift that made my final year of high school so... interesting. That and the riots.

One thing I miss about that town are the 24-hour Cuban cafés. The only place in O-town that doesn't roll up the sidewalk at midnight is Denny's.